This story is about Gaddafi’s troops but you can be sure the so-called ‘rebels’ are no better. Children as young as eight are being raped in front of their families. Women are being raped in front of their husbands and children. I wonder if the $25 million we just gave them for ‘non-lethal’ items includes Viagra?

UK DAILY MAIL – Aid workers described horrific stories of widespread sexual abuse, including one incident in which a group of girls was abducted and held hostage for four days. When they were finally released, they were too traumatised to speak.

Other children have described being forced to watch as their fathers were murdered and their mothers raped. They told Save The Children that they themselves were then brually beaten before being released. Harrowing stories of sexual assaults against women and children have emerged from those who have fled the besieged cities of Misrata, Ajdabia and Rus-Lanuf.

Michael Mahrt, the charity’s child protection adviser, said: ‘The reports of sexual violence against children are unconfirmed but they are consistent and were repeated across the four camps we visited. Mr Mahrt said that some children are showing signs of physical and emotional distress; they are withdrawn, refuse to play and wake up crying in the night.

He added: ‘Whenever some children hear a gun being fired they re-live the terrible ordeal they have been through. It is clear that for many of them, their suffering is far from over.’

There have been numerous reports of Gaddafi’s troops – some fuelled by Viagra – using rape as a weapon of war. In the most notorious example, 28-year-old Iman al-Obeidi claimed she was assaulted for two days by 15 men after being abducted at a checkpoint. She was arrested after trying to tell her story to foreign journalists and has subsequently been charged with slander.

But in a conservative society where rape is heavily stigmatised, many women will not tell even their close family what has happened to them. (Of course not, they are afraid they will be killed for being raped – a Muslim tradition)

Rebel spokesman Abdelbaset Abumzirig, who is based in Misrata, said that there has been a string of horrific assaults in Benghazi Street – parrallel to Tripoli Street where a maor battle for the city was fought. ‘The Gaddafi forces have been ordered to rape because this means they are insulting Misrata itself.’

‘Children told us they have witnessed horrendous scenes. Some said they saw their fathers murdered and mothers raped. ‘They described things happening to other children but they may have actually happened to them and they are just too upset to talk about it – it’s a typical coping mechanism used by children who have suffered such abuse.

‘What is most worrying is that we have only been able to speak to a limited number of children – what else is happening to those who are trapped in Misrata and other parts of the country who do not have a voice.’

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Dr Khalifa al-Sharkassi described how two sisters, aged 16 and 20, had been assaulted by African mercenaries after their brothers had joined the rebels. The girls’ mother was locked in another room while they were raped. ‘Four or five Africans took turns raping both girls,’ he said. ‘(Now) one of them just sits and cries and looks lost.’

He said another victim had tried to clean herself with bleach after being attacked. One of his patients had given herself an injection of chlorine in the belief that this would stop herself becoming pregnant.